3/2/2021
Education and Outreach
In-person sensory friendly performances may be on hiatus during The Smith Center’s extended closure, but that hasn’t stopped the center’s Education and Outreach team from making sure that students with disabilities have access to the arts.
Recently, more than a dozen Clark County School District (CCSD) students with a range of visual impairment, including blindness, were invited to participate in The Smith Center’s fourth virtual student matinee, “The University of Wonder & Imagination.”
Created by Belfast-based theatre company Cahoots NI in response to pandemic limitations, “The University of Wonder & Imagination” is an interactive performance hosted on Zoom that combines magic and illusion, physical theater and original music.
According to Rebecca Boyd, The Smith Center’s Education and Outreach program manager overseeing student matinees, Cahoots specifically prepared the performance so that visually impaired audiences could enjoy it as much as non-impaired audiences.
“We didn’t have to ask them to tailor it for the visually impaired,” Boyd says. “It was something that they already offered, which presented us with a terrific opportunity to include visually impaired students in our lineup of virtual programming.”
Getting Up-Close with the Performers
Lori Moroz-White, a licensed teacher and vision services transition specialist with CCSD’s Vision Services Department, says that being able to get close to the screen really enhanced the experience for her visually impaired students who watched the show from home with their families.
“For the low-vision students, it was phenomenal,” says Moroz-White. “Typically students never get that close to the performers during an in-person performance, even when they are sitting in the front row.”
In “The University of Wonder & Imagination” performance, the mysterious Professor Bamberg welcomes students to the unique university and then sends them off to interact with lively lecturers where they will enter themed rooms such as math, science, and art and encounter all kinds of problems and puzzles to unlock magical powers as they go.
Moroz-White says that personalizing the experience for students by speaking to them by name made a real difference. “Even the few blind students felt engaged and really enjoyed the performance,” she says.
The Smith Center’s Boyd, who attended the start of every performance to confirm that people were logged in, says that she cried tears of joy every time Professor Bamberg said hello to a student.
“It was pure wonder and magic seeing their face light up so brightly,” she says.
Sharing a Lifelong Commitment to the Arts
Moroz-White, the mother of a blind daughter, has been partnering with The Smith Center since before it opened in order to bring arts experiences to CCSD’s visually impaired students.
“The performing arts have always been an important part of my and my family’s life,” she explains. “ I want to make sure that my students also get an opportunity to experience the excitement and transformative power of watching a live show.”
A season ticket holder at The Smith Center, Moroz-White says that even if she sparks a genuine interest in the arts in only a few students, it’s worth it.
“I believe I’m truly doing my job if I can foster an interest in a career in the arts or nurture a lifelong passion for enjoying the arts,” she says.
For more information about The Smith Center’s education and outreach programs, click here.
All student matinees presented by The Smith Center since its opening in 2012 have been funded by Windsong Trust.